1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to employee communication programs, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for publishing and distributing employee communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern business management calls for effective communications between management and employees. Among various other techniques for communicating with employees, conventional employee communication programs have typically included providing a bulletin board upon which printed material, e.g., posters including photographs, artwork, designs and/or slogans, and messages are displayed. Topics that may be the subject of employee communications involve safety, quality, teamwork, morale and self-motivation. For example, since safety is an important consideration in most working environments, a poster with a slogan relating to the exercise of caution in potentially dangerous situations may be displayed for impressing upon employees an employer's requirement for observing on-the-job safety. Other examples of representative employee communications include news releases about the company, messages for boosting employee morale and messages relating to employee activities.
In conventional systems to which the invention relates graphic designers may develop the posters and other employee communications by hand or on a computer aided design system. Typically, they are printed as a large employee communication for display and then sent to a client for mounting to a bulletin board. The bulletin board may be relatively sophisticated and creatively organized for efficiency and visual attention, such as a three-panel bulletin board on the order of 26 inches (66 centimeters) by 63 inches (160 centimeters). For conventional systems to which the invention relates the posters are typically manually replaced to communicate corporate goals, news of interest and employee activities to employees.
At regular time intervals, such as once a month, clients may select new posters and messages and/or the new posters and messages are automatically selected, printed and shipped periodically to each client. Because of the large number and variety of clients and the specific requirements for certain users, there are significant inefficiencies associated with selecting, printing and shipping the employee communications. Also, achievement of a high degree of customization and selectivity is economically problematic.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide an efficient system that overcomes many of the deficiencies of prior art systems and services.